Faith simply means to believe. With the costly sacrifice of Christ, God established a new order outside the law through which man can now come to him and that is "FAITH." This faith is simply having faith or believing in his son Jesus Christ and his finished work as have been explained in my older publications.
Romans 1 :16-17 Paul says " I have complete confidence in the gospel; It is God's power to save all who believe, first the Jews and also the Gentiles. For the gospel reveals how God puts people right with himself. It is through faith from beginning to the end. As the scripture says, the person who is put right with God through faith shall live."
Romans 3:21-22 also says "But now God's way of putting people right with himself has been revealed. It has nothing to do with law, even though the law of Moses and the prophets gave their witnesses to it. God puts people right through their faith in Jesus Christ. God does this to all who believes because there is no difference at all (Whether Jew or Gentile)"
John 3:16 says" for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth should not perish but have everlasting life."
Note the above underlined words "Whosoever and believeth". Whosoever is telling you that irrespective/whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, once you believe in his son, you will not be condemned. This is true because God is no longer the God of the Jews alone as it was when other nations of the world apart from the Jews served other gods and not the true God. With Christ’s death, He reconciled the entire human race to God. For if it was through the law that people should become righteous, it then means that God is the God of the Jews alone because they were the people to whom the law was given and ours, a borrowed law. So for God to be God of all, the law has to be kept aside and a new way made open through which both the Jews and Gentiles could enter and become God's children, sons and heirs of his kingdom. This new way made is now faith.
Romans 3:28-30 says" for we conclude that a person is put right with God only through faith and not by doing what the law commands. Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. God is one and he will put the Jews right with himself on the basis of their faith and will put the Gentiles right through their faith"
Ephesians 2 :11- says "you Gentiles by birth called the uncircumcised by the Jews who call themselves the circumcised, remember what you were in the past. At that time you were apart from Christ. You were foreigners and did not belong to God's chosen people. You had no part in the covenants which were based on God's promises to his people and you lived in this world without hope and without God. But now in union with Christ Jesus you who used to be far away has been brought near by the blood of Christ. For Christ himself has brought us peace by making Jews and gentiles one. With his own body, he broke down the walls that separated them and kept them enemies. He abolished the Jewish law with its commandments and rules in order to create out of the two races one new people in union with himself, in this way making peace. By his death on the cross, Christ destroyed their enmity, by means of the cross, he united both races into one body and brought them back to God. He went further to say in verse 18-19 " it is through Christ that all of us, Jews and gentiles are able to come in the one spirit into the presence of the father. So then you Gentiles are no longer foreigners or strangers. You are now fellow citizens with God's people and members of the family of God"
So beloved, Jesus Christ is now the only means, and the way to make it on the last day. It's not as a result of your own doings, efforts or good life that takes you there but your faith in him. Don't misunderstand me to say that we have no need to live good lives but to continue doing evil. No! many will accuse me that way but you must first believe in the finished works of Christ. This is because no Matter how good you may think you are, you remain too bad to be good before God. JESUS is the only one that pleased God and so it is only those that believes in him that are capable of pleasing God. Because you believing in him automatically inputs his righteousness on you. His righteousness becomes your own righteousness not the one you gain by trying to keep the law. Only then will you realize that Christian conduct flows from the believe of what Christ has done. You will begin to live a good life because you can't help not to be good after believing. You will be amazed how this happens.
Galatians 5:4 says" those of you who try to be put right with God by obeying the law have cut yourselves off from Christ. You are outside God's grace"
Paul also said in Galatians 2: 21 " I refuse to reject the grace of God. But if a person is put right with God through the law, it means that Christ died for nothing"
Did you see that? When I say keeping the law I mean doing good things. The law says thou shall not kill, steal, commit adultery, obey your father and mother etc. When you are able to keep all these things, it shows you are doing good things and, living a good life but you have not been able to keep all the laws and no one can ever do that. As a result, faith came through Christ that anyone who believes becomes capable of pleasing God. No human being is capable of keeping the law but every human being is capable of exercising faith. The problem is simply that some people choose not to believe because it's too simple to be true coupled with the teachings they have received from religious teachers. Right now, your salvation is now a matter of choice. It has already been achieved. So choose to believe or not.
Romans 10:4 says" for Christ has brought the law to an end so that everyone who believes is put right with God"
The law was supposed to put us right with God but the law couldn't do that in that the law was a fault finder, it condemned everyone since no one is able to keep them. The law can never give life to any man but condemnation. But what the law could not do for us to bring us blameless, pure and righteous before God, Christ did with his death. Christ does not find fault nor condemn anyone rather he said believe in me and you will have life.
Apostle Paul testifies of this when he said in Galatians 3:21-22 "Does this mean that the law is against God's promises? No, for if human beings had received a law that could bring life, then everyone could be put right with God by obeying it. But the scripture says that the whole world is under the power of sin and so the gift which is promised on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ is given to those who believe."
This shows you that outside Christ, you can never have life. The law was introduced to show people what sin was, and was meant to last till the time Christ came. Galatians 3:23-25 says" but before the time of faith came, the law kept us all locked up as prisoners until this coming faith should be revealed. And so the law was in charge of us until Christ came in order that we might be put right with God through faith. Now that the time for faith is here, the law is no longer in charge of us."
Did you see that? What prevents you from believing? Is it too simple to be true? Don't be like the leper man asked to go dip himself inside the river seven times to be cured and was furious because he expected more serious task to be healed but was only told to do the simple act of dipping himself seven times to be healed. He did that after being furious and got his healing. Even the God whom you are trying to please by keeping the law, has said to you that his love for you is made manifest in his son that when you believe in his son, you will not die but have everlasting life. God has given the mantle of life to his son. When you believe that Jesus bore all your sins, paid the price with his death and through his resurrection has given you life, you have automatically pleased God and he himself makes you righteous. Jesus Christ is everything God has. So when God gave you Jesus, he gave you his highest possession as a God. He gave you his very best gift. Something you didn't labour for, a life you didn't merit, he gave you as a gift in his son. What a gracious God!! No wonder Jesus said In Matthew "come to me all ye that are carrying heavy load and I will lighten it up for you. Take my yoke for the yoke I give is Light." The load you and I are carrying is the load of our sins, guilty Conscience, fear of death and fear of being condemned to hell. Now Jesus is telling you to come to him and receive a lighter one. He is simply telling you to believe in him because he came to take away that burden off your shoulders and placed on his and gave you eternal life in place of the burden. This is what he was able to do two thousand years ago. Your salvation has already been achieved. Stop working for it. Note: Good deeds become relevant and counts after believing not before believing. Your works will lead you nowhere but condemnation if you don't believe. Those who depend on works will be judged by the law and how difficult it will be for anyone to make it through the law. Christ has redeemed you from the provisions of the law. It was Christ own efforts and work not yours. He went through it all alone you didn't help him. He fought alone, won the victory and gave it to you as a gift. This is Grace speaking. Our God is a loving God, so gracious. Ephesians 2:8-9 says" for it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your efforts but God's gift so that no one can boast about it."
You see, when you believe what Christ has done (setting you free from sin), you are able to realize that it was not your effort or based on what you do but his grace. Just like the man that paid off the debt of the young man illustrated in one of my publications, Jesus has paid off your debt of sin and eternal death and thus, given you life. Colossians 2:13-14 says "you were at one time spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were Gentiles without the law. But God has now brought you to life with Christ. God forgave us all our sins, he cancelled the unfavorable record of our debts with its binding rules(law) and did away with it completely by nailing it to the cross"
Romans 8:1 "there is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit (faith) which brings us life in union with Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death."
Beloved, strive to be a partaker of this lavished love on mankind by God through Christ Jesus. Don't lock yourself out with unbelief. See you soon in my next publication titled " SHALL WE CONTINUE SINNING THAT GRACE MAY ABOUND? Love you deeply
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